Ford Foundation Launches HIV/AIDS program

The Ford Foundation launched a five-year, $25 million initiative aimed at low-income communities in Washington, D.C. and nine southern states. Ford will provide grants to organizations working in marginalized communities—especially among minorities and women—that have the highest new HIV rates in the country. According to the Centers on Disease Control and Prevention, 46 percent of new AIDS cases in the U.S. in 2007 were in the South, and minorities accounted for 71 percent of new cases and 70 percent of deaths due to AIDS. "This crisis is affecting the places and people that as a country we too easily ignore," said Ford Foundation President Luis A. Ubiñas.